Germany pressures Facebook on tracking technologies

A German data protection authority contends Facebook is tracking users even after they delete their accounts, and it wants the company to respond to this potential privacy violation by Monday.

Due to an editing error, the story Germany pressures Facebook on tracking technologies contained incorrect information in the first and fourth paragraphs.

The first paragraph of the story now reads:

A German data protection authority contends Facebook is tracking users even after they delete their accounts.

The original fourth paragraph referring to possible legal action has been removed.

The last two paragraphs of the story now read:

Hamburg's DPA has another outstanding issue with Facebook. It is still awaiting a response from the company about its facial-recognition feature that automatically identifies a person's friends and suggests their name. The agency believe that users should have to give their consent before Facebook's systems store and study their faces to enable the feature. The company has until Monday to respond to that complaint.

If the discussions break down, the Hamburg DPA will pursue legal options, Caspar said. The agency has the power to levy fines.